David Beckham: 'I used to steal Victoria's beauty products'

The 43-year-old retired footballer – who has sons Brooklyn, 19, Romeo, 16, and Cruz, 13, and seven-year-old daughter Harper with the former Spice Girls singer – has always been aware he needed to look after his skin because he spent so much time outside but didn’t have the knowledge to select the right lotions and creams, so simply took to using the same items as his fashion designer spouse.

He said: “My approach to grooming was always to steal my wife’s products. That was kind of it, really. I’d always been aware of how I wanted my hair to look, stuff like that, but I was also in a career where I was always outside–whether I was living in Manchester, living in Madrid, LA…all these different places with different weather.

“I had to take care of my skin because of that, but the way I looked after it was to steal my wife’s stuff, because I know she has the best. “

But David – who has created his own grooming line with L’Oreal, House 99 – takes a lot more care these days and thinks it’s a “more acceptable” topic for guys to discuss now.

He added in an interview with Into the Gloss: “I never used to use face wash, apart from using my wife’s products. I never used to make the time to do that. Now I have a face wash, I have a mask, a scrub.

“And it’s so much more acceptable – guys find it much more natural to talk about their products that they use, and what they do to look after their skin and their hair, and the way they want to look. I’m very excited about that.”

David taught his two older sons how to shave and is looking forward to doing the same when the time comes for Cruz.

He said: “The first time my son Romeo shaved, I shaved him -he literally had a fluff on his face, but he was quite excited about his dad shaving him. Brooklyn, the same. I’m sure I’ll have to do the same to Cruz.”

When it comes to his own facial fuzz, the star has never been clean shaven since his eldest son was young because it terrified the tot.

He said: “As far as I can remember, I’ve always had some kind of stubble. I’ve worked out that I look better with some stubble than without.

“I think the last time I razor shaved was about 15 years ago – my son Brooklyn was four years old, and I razor shaved when we were in the south of France on holiday.

“I came out the bathroom, and he literally burst into tears because I shaved my moustache and my goatee. So since then, I don’t think I’ve shaved.”